collects the solar energy available in form of direct solar radiation and converts it into thermal energy as the temperature of the oil circulating trough the receiver tubes of the collectors increases. Once heated at the solar field, the oil is sent to the steam generator, which is an oil-water heat exchanger ‘here the oil transfers is thermal energy to the water and the superheated steam required by the turbine is this produced, ‘The steam generator i, therefore, the imerface between the solar system (solar field ‘oil cieuit) and the power conversion system itself Normally, the steam generetor used in these solar powerplants is conformed by three stages: = Proheater: where water is preheated to a temperature close to evaporation. ~ Evaporator: where the preheated water is evaporated and converted into saturated steam, = Supecheaier: the saturated steam produced in the vaporater is heated in the superheater to the temperature required by the steam turbine, ‘The power conversion system transforms the thermal energy delivered by the solar field into electricity, using the superheated steam delivered by the steam ‘generator. This power conversion system is similar to that of a conventional Rankine power plant, with a ‘main difference: heat supply to the Rankine cycle is done by means of fossil fuels in a conventional plant, while in the solar plant the parabolic-trough collectors liver the required thermal energy. ‘The superheated steam delivered by the steam ‘generaior is then expanded in steam turbine that drives an electricity generator, which produces the electricity that is fed into the extemal grid, The steam turbine is usually composed of two stages, for high and low pressure steam. Steam leaving the turbine high- pressure stage is sent to a reheater to reise temperature before entering the low-pressure turbine stage. After this stage, the steam is condensed and the candersate is sent to @ waler deacrator to. remove ‘onygen and gases dissolved in the water. The mi pump lakes feed water forthe steam generator from the deaeraior, thus starting the Rankine thermodynamic eyele again ‘Though parabolic-trough power plants usually have an auxiliary gas-fired heater to produce electricity when direct solar radiation is not available, the amount of electricity produced with natural gas is always limited toa ressonable level ‘Though it is not included in Fig. 3 a thermal energy slorage sysiem can be implemented in parabolic-trough © European Space Ageney + Pro power plants to allow operation of the power conversion system when direct solar radiation is not available. In this case, the solar field has to be oversized so that it can simultaneously feed the power conversion system and charge the storage system during sunlight hous. Thermal energy from storage system will then be used to keep the steam turbine running and producing electricity after sunset time or during cloudy periods. The yearly number of hours of operation can be significanily increased and_ plant amortization is thus enhanced when a storage system is implemented. However, the required total investment ‘ost is also higher in this case, There are several types of thermal storage systems suitable for parabolic-trough power plants. For small storage capacity systems, thermal energy can be stored ina single tank filled with thermal oil, s0 thatthe oil is not only the heat transfer medium between the solar field and the power block, but also the storage medium, Hot and cold oil can be stored in the same tank because density of cil used in solar plants change a lot with the temperature and hot oil remains always at the upper levels of the tank because its density is much lower than that of cold oil. So, cold oil is taken from the bottom of the siorage tank and sent to the solar field dluring sunlight hours to be heated and then retuned to the top of the storage tank. The storage system will be fully charged when all the oil stored in the tank is hot. When direct solar radiation ie not available, hot oil is taken from the ‘op of the storage tank and sent to the steam generator to feed the power block. AS already stated, the use of a single oil storage tank is feasible only for small storage systems. For high-capacity systems, two oil tanks (Le., one tank for cold oil and another tank for hot oil) are needed. Molten salts (cuiectie mixture of sodium and potassium nitrates) are also used for thermal storage systems in parabolic-trough plants. In this case, two tanks ere needed: one for molten salts at cold temperature and another tank to store molten salts at hot tempersture. It is evident that the lower temperature is always above the melting temperature of the salt. In this case a heat exchanger is needed to transfer energy fiom the oil used at the solar field (heat transfer medium) and the ‘molten salts used for energy storage (storage medium). Fig. 4 shows the simplified scheme of 2 parabolic ‘rough power plant provided with a thermal energy storage system with molten salts Parabolic-trough power plants can play an important role to achieve a sustainable growth because they produce a yearly saving of about 2000 tons of COs ‘omissions per MW of installed power. ied by the NASA Astrophysics Data System